Life must be filled up

I grew up in a wireless household, and we’re not talking internet access here. Listen With Mother and Children’s Hour got my total concentration but there was a whole lot more that was just on, and which I took in without really listening: Housewives’ Choice and Music While You Work, Woman’s Hour, In Town Tonight, The Archers, Two Way Family Favourites and, most evocative of all now, the Saturday teatime football results. "Queen of the South: One. Heart of Midlothian: One." How romantic the names sounded. What this meant was that before starting school I absorbed a whole lot of British light music without being aware of it: Coronation Scot, Elizabethan Serenade, The Knightsbridge March and so on.

In my teens I totally despised all that. It was Beatles or Bach for me and I hated light music, even poor old Tchaikovsky, as much as I hated Frank Sinatra and any song that sounded like a ballad. Older and perhaps wiser I came to appreciate the artistry of Sinatra and the craftsmanship of the composers of the Light Programme music. Now, one of my favourite CDs is the Classic FM Essential British Light Music compilation. So I was pleased to hear a programme on Radio 4 yesterday about Eric Coates, The King of Light Music , which is available on Listen Again. I can’t explain why hearing The Dambusters now brings tears to my eyes but I do know that Eric Coates is a better composer than he used to be given credit for.